By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor
Jeff Sprague finished as the runner-up in the MLF Bass Pro Tour event that was conducted in his home state last year. The ultra-consistent Texan now has another chance to post his first victory close to home.
Sprague was one of eight competitors who survived the Knockout Round at Lake Fork (his home waters) and will now move on to the Championship Round at smallish-but-fertile Lake Athens. Weights will once again be zeroed and the winner will be whomever among the 10 anglers (qualifying group winners Mark Daniels Jr. and Brandon Coulter will also join the fray) prevails in the one-day shootout on the 1,800-acre impoundment that's home to the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center
Athens, which is an hour's drive from Sprague's home in Point, Texas, is a body of water that's familiar to him, but not so much at this time of year.
"I go there off and on – I make one trip or so a year," said Sprague, who'll make his fifth appearance in the Championship Round in 11 BPT regular-season events. "It's a good little lake, but I usually don't go in the spring; I wait until the summer when the fish are grouped up offshore. It's a good place to go when everything else is fishing tough.
"It's going to be interesting to see how it pans out and see what the fish are doing there – how far along they are (in the spawning ritual). It's one of those deals where it could be really good or not as great was we think it possibly could be."
Andy Montgomery won the Knockout Round by catching 45-09 on 13 fish. Others who advanced were Alton Jones Jr. (42-09, 11), Keith Poche (42-01, 13), Justin Atkins (41-11, 11), Bryan Thrift (38-06, 10), Brent Chapman (37-06, 11), Sprague (35-11, 10) and Ott DeFoe (34-05, 10).
Montgomery was the last of several anglers to sit in the top slot during a topsy-turvy third period. With 10 minutes remaining in the day, he caught a 4-pounder that bumped him from 4th place to 1st.
He started the day sight-fishing, then resorted to pitching a Strike King Game Hawg and a plastic lizard around grass.
"Every day has kind of exceeded my expectations," he said. "I didn't have a good practice; I knew where three fish on beds were, and I caught them and then just started looking for more. I've started every day after that not knowing where any (fish) were."
Competitors were allowed to spend 6 hours on Athens on one of their non-competition days.
Jeff Sprague has advanced to the Championship Round in nearly half of the BPT regular-season events to date.
"I went there for 4 hours and looked around. It'll be good – there'll be some on beds, for sure, but I might try to catch them just fishing, especially if it rains like it's supposed to."
It'll be the second finals appearance of the season for Jones, who like Sprague hails from the Lonestar State. That's also the case for Thrift, Chapman, Sprague and DeFoe.
Thrift secured his spot at Athens by catching a 9 1/2-pounder – the day's largest fish – with 32 minutes left in the final period. That moved him from 11th place to 6th, and he climbed one more rung a few minutes later with a 2 1/2-pounder.
The lunker was enticed by a 4-inch tube (black and red).
"That's the biggest fish I've ever caught in competition," the 2019 Forrest Wood Cup winner said. "I caught a 10-08 one time from a pond; at least that's what it weighed on my grandpa's vegetable scale. This is the biggest one I've ever caught from a lake."
He passed on the opportunity to explore Athens prior to the Championship Round.
"It's an hour and a half from where I was staying and it was going to be 50 degrees on the day I could go. With its size, I can see pretty much all of it in the 30 minutes we get before lines-in."
Weather Forecast
> Wed., March 18 – Scattered T-Storms - 76°/67°
- Wind: From the S at 11 mph
Knockout Round
(Number at far right denotes weight of angler's heaviest fish for the round.)
1. Andy Montgomery -- 13, 45-09 -- 6-07
2. Alton Jones Jr. -- 11, 42-09 -- 5-08
3. Keith Poche -- 13, 42-01 -- 4-14
4. Justin Atkins -- 11, 41-11 -- 8-06
5. Bryan Thrift -- 10, 38-06 -- 9-08
6. Brent Chapman -- 11, 37-06 -- 7-04
7. Jeff Sprague -- 10, 35-11 -- 4-12
8. Ott DeFoe -- 10, 34-05 -- 5-01
The following anglers did not make the cut and will not advance to the Championship Round.
9. Bobby Lane -- 9, 33-01 -- 4-13
10. Michael Neal -- 8, 32-14 -- 6-08
11. Shin Fukae -- 11, 28-09 -- 4-14
12. Greg Hackney -- 8, 28-09 -- 5-11
13. James Watson -- 9, 27-00 -- 4-09
14. Fletcher Shryock -- 7, 26-11 -- 5-09
15. Terry Scroggins -- 7, 26-10 -- 5-07
16. Jared Lintner -- 7, 25-14 -- 5-07
17. Jason Christie -- 7, 23-14 -- 5-02
18. Greg Vinson -- 7, 23-10 -- 4-02
19. Shaw Grigsby -- 6, 23-07 -- 5-03
20. Aaron Martens -- 6, 20-03 -- 4-12
21. Todd Faircloth -- 7, 19-15 -- 4-02
22. Wesley Strader -- 7, 19-03 -- 4-04
23. Jacob Powroznik -- 5, 18-03 -- 5-04
24. Luke Clausen -- 5, 18-01 -- 6-14
25. Andy Morgan -- 7, 17-08 -- 3-11
26. Josh Bertrand -- 5, 17-05 -- 6-03
27. Mike Iaconelli -- 6, 17-01 -- 4-04
28. Mark Rose -- 4, 16-13 -- 6-02
29. Jordan Lee -- 5, 15-09 -- 4-01
30. David Dudley -- 5, 15-00 -- 4-00
31. Chris Lane -- 5, 14-13 -- 3-09
32. Edwin Evers -- 5, 14-05 -- 4-12
33. Zack Birge -- 4, 11-08 -- 3-07
34. Casey Ashley -- 4, 11-08 -- 3-05
35. Dustin Connell -- 4, 11-07 -- 4-14
36. Anthony Gagliardi -- 3, 11-04 -- 6-06
37. Alton Jones -- 4, 11-03 -- 3-03
38. Randy Howell -- 2, 6-08 -- 4-01
